Betsy McCaughey Sues NY Over Pipeline in CT Governor Race
Republican CT governor candidate Betsy McCaughey filed a federal lawsuit accusing NY Gov. Hochul of blocking a natural gas pipeline and raising energy costs.
Betsy McCaughey walked into federal court at Foley Square in lower Manhattan on Tuesday and filed suit against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, arguing the Democratic governor is illegally choking off natural gas that Connecticut desperately needs.
McCaughey, a Republican candidate for Connecticut governor who calls Greenwich home, says Hochul’s blockade of the Constitution Pipeline violates the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. The pipeline would move Marcellus Shale gas out of northeast Pennsylvania and into New England. Without it, Connecticut ratepayers are stuck buying power from costlier sources. That’s not a minor inconvenience; it’s a core argument in the 2026 governor’s race.
“So I have filed the suit. I’m not going to wait ‘til I’m governor. There’s no reason that the people of Connecticut should wait six more months to start remedying this situation,” McCaughey said. She didn’t stop there: “The big question, of course, is why hasn’t Ned Lamont filed this suit to produce affordable energy for the people of his state, instead of kowtowing to a partisan buddy next door in New York State?”
That’s a pointed shot at a sitting governor who can’t easily dodge it.
The lawsuit was reported by CT Mirror on April 14, 2026. McCaughey’s legal team will have to clear substantial hurdles around ratepayer standing claims before any court takes the substance of her argument seriously. Still, she’s betting the political optics matter as much as the legal merits right now.
The 300 percent number
McCaughey anchored her case around testimony from Laura Swett, chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, who told Congress that New England consumers pay as much as 300% more for electricity specifically because the Constitution Pipeline was never built. Three hundred percent. That figure is almost impossible to communicate to constituents without it landing like a punch.
Connecticut’s electricity bills have been a sore spot for years. Lamont, a Democrat pushing for a third term, has spent months navigating between Hochul and the Trump administration, trying to expand the state’s gas supply without torching his climate record. It’s a genuinely difficult position. His campaign, though, isn’t conceding an inch to McCaughey.
“Gov. Lamont has made lowering utility costs by expanding energy capacity a top priority,” said Rob Blanchard, a Lamont campaign spokesman, who pointed to offshore wind, nuclear, hydropower, and emerging technologies as proof the governor has a real plan. Blanchard framed McCaughey’s lawsuit as a performance aimed at Washington, not a fix aimed at Hartford.
Hochul’s office didn’t answer a request for comment.
This idea isn’t new
McCaughey’s move might look bold, but she’s not the first Connecticut Republican to float a lawsuit over the pipeline. Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, has been talking publicly about this exact legal strategy for over a year. Fazio sits on the Energy and Technology Committee as its ranking Republican and is himself one of three candidates competing for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. He said Tuesday that he’s glad the idea is getting attention. Don’t expect him to credit McCaughey for it.
What the lawsuit does accomplish, regardless of its legal fate, is pressure. She’s forcing Lamont to answer a direct question: why hasn’t he sued? His team’s response, essentially that he’s been working the problem through negotiations and policy, doesn’t have the same sharpness as a federal filing.
That’s the Republican primary dynamic in miniature. Lamont’s incumbency advantage has smothered the race so far. McCaughey, Fazio, and the third candidate in the field are all searching for moments that cut through. A lawsuit against a neighboring Democratic governor, filed in lower Manhattan, timed to dominate a news cycle, is a calculated attempt to find one.
Whether the Constitution Pipeline ever gets built is a separate question entirely. The project has been stuck for years, tangled in New York State permitting fights and environmental opposition. McCaughey can’t build it from the campaign trail. She can’t build it from a courtroom, either. What she’s trying to build right now is a rationale.